By Denise Lavoie

UpdatedAugust 4, 2017 — 7.20amfirst published at 5.56am

Taunton, Massachusetts: A woman who encouraged her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself in dozens of text messages and told him to "get back in" a truck filled with toxic gas has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for involuntary manslaughter.

Michelle Carter was convicted in June by a judge who said her final instruction to Conrad Roy III caused his death.

In dozens of text messages, Carter had urged Roy to follow through on his talk of taking his own life. "The time is right and you are ready ... just do it babe," Carter wrote in a text the day he killed himself.

Michelle Carter listens to testimony at Taunton District Court in Taunton, Massachusetts.Credit:AP

The sensational trial was closely watched on social media, in part because of the insistent tone of Carter's text messages.

"You can't think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don't get why you aren't," Carter wrote in one text.

Conrad Roy jnr, the father of the late Conrad Roy III, at Taunton Juvenile Court.Credit:AP

In convicting Carter, the judge focused his ruling on Carter telling Roy to "get back in" after he climbed out of his truck as it was filling with carbon monoxide and told her he was afraid.

The judge said those words constituted "wanton and reckless conduct" under the manslaughter statute.

Carter and Roy met in Florida in 2012 while both were on vacation with their families. After that, they only met in person a handful of times. Their relationship consisted mainly of texting.

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